The answer, according to XCAR's Alex Goy, is yeah, believe it or not. The i3 gets 80 to 100 miles of range, or more if you opt for the small motorcycle engine that serves as a range extender, is loaded down with carbon fiber, and has an interior that looks like the kinds of cars we dreamed we'd be driving in 2014.

It also does zero to 60 mph in 7.2 seconds, which is respectable. And Alex says it's quicker immediately off the line than the E92 M3. That's no small feat.

Alex also says that while it suffers from many of the same limitations that afflict all current electric cars, BMW will let i3 owners borrow one of their petroleum-powered cars if they need to go the distance.

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An i3 for most of the time and an M3 or an X5 for the rest of the time? You could do a lot worse than that.